Mysteries with a New England Accent

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The Annual Wicked Retreat

It’s that time of year again – the Wickeds are going on retreat, starting today. This year, we’re changing things up a bit and heading to Boothbay Harbor, Maine, to stay at Barb’s famous former B&B. We’re planning a lot of fun, food, and drinks – and of course, work. So, Wickeds, what do you hope to accomplish this year?

Edith: I might still be polishing Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery number one, due June first. But I might start plotting (did I, a Pantser, just use the PL-word?) and writing Quaker Midwife Mystery number four, since that’s next on the schedule. Conversation with the Wickeds is high on the agenda, as always, and I hope to get a Canva tutorial from Julie and Sherry, so I can get over my graphics ineptitude. Can’t wait!

Sherry: I hope to get some plotting done too — yikes, Edith maybe the others are converting us! I will be working on book six which has a possible title of For Whom The Belle Tolls. I love our late night late night chats when we are settled down with a glass of wine. See you all soon.

Animal socks Liz brought each of us to the retreat one year! Guess whose foot is whose…

Liz: Hoping to get a bunch of words written in the second Cat Cafe Mystery, as well as a plotting session for book seven in the Pawsitively Organic Series. And some quality time with my besties…

Jessie: When I am writing I’ll be working on the second book in my new Beryl and Edwina series. Liz and I also plan to demonstrate interactive plotting/ brainstorming/ book noodling for those Wickeds who are not quite convinced about the upside of plotting ahead. I hope to convince at least one of them that premeditated crimes can be as much fun as those that are crimes of passion!

Barb: I’ll be finishing up a short story and getting it to my writers’ group. I also hope to make good progress on two synopses.

Julie: I have copy edits due next week for Theater Cop series book one, A CHRISTMAS PERIL. Pages are printed out, and I will be doing another read through and some final tweaking. I also just finished a draft of Theater Cop series book two, tentatively titled WITH A KIISS I DIE. I want to do a read through so I can get it to my first reader, Jason Allen-Forrest. I also want to talk to Edith and Liz about this juggling two series business. Plus, wine.

Readers: What do you like to accomplish when you go away from your everyday routine? Do you have a list, or prefer just chilling? And if we’re a little slow on responses to comments today, it’s because many of us are traveling north!

26 thoughts on “The Annual Wicked Retreat”

Sounds great! My writing group has talked idly about doing a retreat for ages, but we haven’t done it yet. May we hear more of the arrangements? How does all the shopping, cooking and clean-up get done? Does everybody write at the same time? And above all, what do you do with your spouses?!

Hi, Heidi! Everyone pitches in. We lay out all the meals for the weekend — Friday dinner through Sunday lunch. Someone volunteers to be in charge and shops and makes the meal. (I don’t like to cook so I order pizza.) The clean up never seems to be a problem. We try to stay on top of it and everyone helps out. We usually have an agenda set before we go of things we want to accomplish. The rule for writing is if you come across someone whose head is down and they don’t look up you leave them alone. Not everyone writes (morning people vs night people) at the same time but you could set up writing times. Spouses stay home.

Sounds like an amazing time, love the socks! Hope you do a pic like that every year. I like to relax when I get away, sometimes the only ‘musts’ may be nearby historical sites or a new to me Indy bookstore! Have fun!

Too wonderful to think about. Finish some editing. Then, figure out how to proceed after a great first chapter for a next book just appeared out of nowhere recently – just wrote itself, as sometimes happens. I suppose I could think about a plot to go with that lovely chapter.